40. The CEO Magazine - October 2015 theceomagazine.com

In The OfficeEXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

L ast year was a significant milestone for Australia’s largest bedding retailer, Forty Winks. The business

has been helping Australians get a better nights sleep for 30 years thanks to its extensive range of beds, mattresses, and related products. It is the country’s leading bedding specialist, with over 90 independent stores operating across Australia.

Last year, Con Dekazos was appointed to the role of CEO to lead the continuing growth and profitability of the business. With grassroot beginnings in retailing, where his family owned and operated a travel goods business, Con brings a wealth of retail

knowledge and an appreciation of operating family businesses. He fondly recalls looking after the shop on the weekends at the age of 10, serving customers while his father was out making deliveries. “Truth be known, I would have rather been playing ball with my friends than working every weekend. Upon reflection, I learned a great deal about customer service and the hunger for closing a deal.”

In later years, as he studied his undergraduate and postgraduate business degrees part time, Con worked in a variety of industries ranging from manufacturing, wholesale, and then back to retail. He commenced his formal working career in paper manufacturing with

Australian Paper—initially in a cadet position, which gave him a great opportunity to work cross-functionally around the large multinational and learn the dynamics of different departments. He was able to travel and live around Australia, understanding and working with the printing industry and paper distributors.

“Everywhere from cold calling on small printers and selling Reflex all the way to servicing larger paper wholesalers—this is where I cut my teeth in sales and where I developed my negotiation and organisational skills,” Con explains.

It’s also in this organisation that Con developed his passion for marketing: “Here is where I

After three decades of growth and success, Forty Winks is working to further strengthen its market position and unite its independent retailers as one to deliver a consistently high standard of product and service.

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“A.H. Beard partnered with Forty Winks over 30 years ago, and have been working together to improve lives through better sleep ever since. Forty Winks is dedicated to its mission, providing exceptional product and advice to its customers.” - Paul Longman, CEO, A.H. Beard

“Sleepeezee Bedding values our long-term relationship with Forty Winks and their exclusive, handcrafted technologies. Forty Winks has built a strong presence in the Australian marketplace, and has been founded on family unity across its franchisees, coinciding with the Sleepeezee Bedding philosophy.” - Bill Mantzis, Director, Sleepeezee Bedding Australia Pty Ltd

learned about the importance of brands, the opportunity for private labels and how they can coexist, as well as product development.”

In 1997, eight years after he joined Australian Paper, Con moved across to the manufacturing company Nylex, in the upholstery segment of the business, which made products for the car and furniture industries. “It was an interesting organisation,” Con recalls. “Culturally it was going through some changes. There was a multitude of businesses under the Nylex camp, and it was just before the time when they decided to divest the business. It was great being involved in the design side of upholstery and working with a different type of clientele, a different set of specifiers and also furniture makers. So I went from being involved in designing and

manufacturing upholstery all the way through to selling upholstered furniture to consumers via Forty Winks.”

Con took the opportunity in 2000 to work for the Home Timber and Hardware Group (Danks), a wholesaler and retailer operating the Home Timber and Hardware, Thrifty Link Hardware, and Plants Plus marketing groups—a 600-plus store network. He took on a strategic planning role which gave him the ability to dig deep and understand the industry from a customer side, a manufacturing side, and a competitive side. After seven years in a variety of other functional positions, he was appointed general manager of operations.

“My 13 years at the Home Timber and Hardware Group provided me with a deep understanding of the challenges that independent retailers face against the larger corporates,” he says. “It also gave me the opportunity to learn and

understand that when you work in a franchise environment, you have two levers, or two sells. The first sell is to the retailer to ensure they’re onboard with the planned initiatives, and the second sell is of course to the consumer. So it’s a unique model—one which extends the effort and appreciation of building solid cases for initiatives and business strategy.” Con was involved in the entry of Woolworths into the home improvement market with Masters when it acquired the Danks business.

“A lot of people enjoy working in corporate environments, as decisions that can influence the customer can be implemented quickly, whereas in a franchise retail environment it’s a constant sell. It always ensures that you put your best foot forward at all times. You need to have completed a lot of groundwork before you can actually implement an initiative. Therefore, you need to be more disciplined in your thinking and

your approach to sales, marketing, and implementation.”

In October last year, Con joined Forty Winks. “There were a number of reasons why I was attracted to the business: the brand, the solid foundations, the industry transformation—and, more importantly, I was happy to work again with independent retailers. The bedding industry is fairly dependent on Australian manufacturing. The majority of our business is Australian made. All of our major suppliers in the bedding category have manufacturing operations across the country. This is a unique retail model, and I’m really honoured to be part of an industry that supports and fosters Australian manufacturing.

“We are the number one bedding retailer specialist in the country. We have tremendous brand awareness and recognition within the consumer sector, and the business is driven by really passionate and enthusiastic

independent retailers and support staff. I’ve never come across such enthusiasm, such passion, and such emotion. It’s great to be part of this team.”

Since his appointment, Con has spent a lot of time on the road, visiting retailers and suppliers gaining an understanding of their needs, desires, and opportunities for the business. In an industry-first initiative, earlier this year all Forty Winks suppliers were brought together under the one roof to learn more about the business and its plans for the future. “It was a fantastic opportunity to engage our major trading partners and show some transparency about who we are and what we wish to achieve, together. While the business has had four years of strong consecutive growth, it is apparent that the opportunities for the future could be greater if all parties worked together in unity. For a good independent retail business to work effectively,

everybody needs to be united. Everybody needs to be on the same page, everybody needs to understand the strategy, and everybody needs to support the strategy and the initiatives to take

“All of our major suppliers in the bedding category have manufacturing operations across the country. This is a unique retail model, and I’m really honoured to be part of an industry that supports and fosters Australian manufacturing.” - Con Dekazos

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“For over 25 years, SleepMaker and Forty Winks have cultivated a formidable business relationship. We enjoy working collaboratively with a highly successful customer focused company, always challenging the status quo to deliver market leading innovative products and world-class service to their customers.” - James Thornhill, National Account Manager, SleepMaker

place. What I’ve found is that while we have passion, enthusiasm, and emotion, all the elements in the business weren’t necessarily united. My focus has been on driving initiatives to become one—the national office, and the core of our business, which is our retailers and our supplier base.

“This year’s national conference was themed ‘Strength in Unity’, to further develop stronger relationships with the franchisees, the support office, and the supplier base. We communicated the business strategy and implemented a number of new initiatives, including new exclusive product ranges, electronic ordering, collated buying, and the launch of our new brand campaign, Wake Up Wonderful. We were also excited to launch our exclusive partnership with design duo Alisa & Lysandra, who have a strong following post their appearances on The Block. They have designed a truly unique bedroom suite for us, which has now hit floors, creating a new level of excitement among consumers—and it’s locally made. The business has also undertaken a number of consumer insights studies to understand what customers are looking for in a bedroom retailer.”

Con believes that by involving the supply chain in everything it does, Forty Winks will have a greater competitive edge in the marketplace. “We can’t succeed as a business if our suppliers don’t succeed,” Con notes. “We are dependent on our suppliers, and there needs to be a strong relationship. The only way we can grow is to become more meaningful to them and to our customers. Becoming more meaningful is around defining exactly what we want that offer to look like, and working with partners who can assist us in delivering that offer to the customer.

“I believe that all of the cogs need to turn at the same time; you can’t just turn the one cog. I see four components of the business—I see the customer, the retailer, the national office, and the suppliers. If they don’t all turn, then you can’t achieve your strategy. Involving suppliers in our discussions brings them onboard, on the same page, allowing us to have meaningful conversations about the growth of this business.”

On a bigger scope, another challenge will be what the industry throws its way. There is approximately one bedding retailer per 15,000 Australians, which means the market is quite saturated. “We need to ensure that the Forty Winks brand remains top of mind and becomes even more relevant to our customers. The challenge is around defining what

our customer value proposition will be for the future.”

Part of this is about bringing the focus back to the customer experience and ensuring stores are consistently up to a certain standard. On average, a consumer shops for a mattress every eight years and is in the market for approximately two weeks, so Forty Winks is developing strategies to engage with customers on a more frequent basis. It is building the technology and the infrastructure it needs to support that thinking.

In 2016, Forty Winks will launch a new national point-of-sale system, something it hasn’t had in the past. “While we’ve grown and we’re a successful business—the largest in the sector, in fact—we’ve managed this without any form of real infrastructure,” Con says. “This will allow us to have

“Involving suppliers in our discussions brings them onboard, on the same page, allowing us to have meaningful conversations about the growth of this business.” - Con Dekazos

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transparency among our stores, understand the type of products that are on all of our floors, and tailor products to suit the customers who are visiting our stores. A point-of-sale system will provide us with the opportunity to build a CRM—a customer relationship management tool—that we can use to communicate effectively with our customers.”

The business is also making it a priority to look at how it can engage with more of its customers online, with respect to education in sleep and providing ideal comfort solutions. When it comes to bedding, Australians don’t typically purchase these types of goods over the internet. “If people buy mattresses online, they generally do it because it’s for a secondary or third purpose. Furniture buying is one of the key components of our online sales. If you’re buying a product for your bedroom or your second bedroom, you are encouraged to visit our stores and seek appropriate advice on which

mattress is better for you from one of our instore bedding specialist staff. Mattress shopping can be quite a daunting experience for most consumers, and that’s a challenge for the industry and something we’re trying to tackle.”

Looking forward, Forty Winks has structured a business plan that focuses on two core strategies. The first is stabilising and reinvigorating the franchise network, and the second is about growth.

Everything Forty Winks is centring on has the customer at its core—developing a compelling value proposition, the product offer,

instore training, creating consistency across all consumer touchpoints, and utilising data to make decisions on marketing activities. “We have undertaken a major research project utilising Helix Personas data to gain a better understanding of who our customers are, what they buy from us, why they buy from us, and where they buy from us—so we can tailor messages to them and not just rely on mass communication.” Growth will come from areas of operational efficiencies such as technology and additional stores. “Increasing our store footprint is a priority; however, we’re not about store grabs—we want successful and sustainable retail members.”

Con’s vision for the future is to continue to focus on the strength of the Forty Winks brand while leveraging the power that comes from bringing independents together in terms of buying and support. This will add more value to retailers and make the business’s operations more meaningful to our customers.

“Our retailers are at a stage where they are seeking change. They are looking for leadership and they are looking for direction. We’ve delivered a business plan which resonates with them. They have seen what we’re trying to achieve, why we’re trying to achieve it—and, more importantly, they understand the value of what we’re trying to do. For the first time, they’re getting clarity on what the business is working on today, what we’re going to work on over the next three years, and why we’re doing it. Great leadership and great vision will further cement our market leadership position.”

“Our retailers are at a stage where they are seeking change. They are looking for leadership and they are looking for direction. We’ve delivered a business plan which resonates with them.” - Con Dekazos

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